Kampala feels boys’ rise to men

The Sunday evening concert at Kololo Ceremonial Grounds was a milestone and the end of an era. For instance, it brought Boyz II Men to Uganda for the first time and was also the last concert in Uganda for Kenyan boy band Sauti Sol.

Draped in white, Shawn Stockman, Wanya Morris, and Nathan Morris, members of Boyz II Men, took to the stage at 8.40pm. After nearly 40 minutes of uncertainty, the emcee of the day, Gaetano Kaggwa, announced that Sauti Sol was coming next. 

But in a flash, the Boyz II Men technical crew and the Fenon production crew had taken control of the stage. That meant that the trio from Philadelphia was to perform before Sauti Sol.

With befitting aesthetics from the production team, the lighting, graphics, and sound, it was clear Fenon got the memo, and Boyz II Men, on the other hand, had understood the assignment.

The group, with a catalogue that dates back to the early 1990s, started the show with Motown Philly; which celebrates them as a group, their city, Philadelphia, and Motown Records, one of the most celebrated labels of black music.

But it’s their slow classics such as Bended Knees, Water Runs Dry, Dear Mama, and the moment that got men and women screaming, when they gave out roses while performing, I Will Make Love to You.

What made their performance special was the fact that their vocals and harmonies are still neat even when most of them are clearly past their 50s. 

However, the arrangement of the songs has since changed, with Shawn and Wanya singing together or interchangeably since they are all tenors. Nathan is still unchallenged as a baritone, though he currently undertakes the role of bassist since Michael McCary, their original bassist, left the group.

With the shows happening in June, widely known as Black Music Month, the trio celebrated black artists with Sam Cooke’s A Change Is Gonna Come and Michael Jackson’s Come Together. 

Both Sam Cooke and Michael Jackson are very big parts of the black music movement, and yet, in the same breath, Jackson died in June.

Besides Boyz II Men, though, Irene Ntale, Myko Ouma, Jose Sax, Kenneth Mugabi, and DJ Willis had their fair share of moments.

DJ Willis particularly kept his sanity at times when the schedule changed between Boyz II Men and Sauti Sol.

The Kenyan band closed the night out with what could be their final performance in Uganda as a group.

They announced in mid-May that they were taking a break from performing and working as a group, and ending the show where Boyz II Men was heading was monumental for both the audience and the group.

“When we were first discovered, we were singing Boyz II Men covers,” Being Arusa, one of the boy band’s vocalists, said in an interview.

The performance on Sunday was a worthy farewell.

But all wasn’t well, the show set up was mainly dictated by Boyz II Men’s team, they needed a dome or an arena, two infrastructures Uganda doesn’t have.

The production team thus built a tent to house both the stage and a section of platinum ticket holders. 

All the people beyond the main tent got a raw deal. Most of the people who paid between Shs300,000 and Shs200,000 followed the entire show on screens, without a single glimpse of the stage.

This rubbed many people the wrong way, considering that by Ugandan standards, Shs200,000 is a lot of money for a show. 

But either way, people stayed for the music and sang along, screaming the lyrics.

Generally, it’s a show that delivered and disappointed in equal measure.